With You
by mutsumi
Summary: [HPGW songfic] She couldn't believe he was not coming, until she went and saw for herself... "It was you who was waiting for me to come..."


**With You**

_Author's Notes:_ Well, I'm back again with an angsty fanfic, this time, with Harry and Ginny as the pair… I know, it's angst yet again. **Angkat14** told me why was it angst when it is a canon pair… I said… I forgot what I said. ; I guess it's because that's just how what I imagined happening at the moment, when the idea struck me. And yeah, it's a song-fic, or an attempt at one. I really don't know how a song-fic goes, so, I'm hoping that this turned out alright.

_Disclaimer:_ It was JK Rowling's idea, first and foremost. I just borrowed her characters and twisted them all up. The song is _My Immortal_ by Evanescence. And oh, there are some lines from the books. I think you'd figure it out when you read them.

* * *

The rain was pouring down heavily. The winds were blowing fiercely. The lightning was the only visible thing one would see outside. The thunder was the only audible thing one would hear. Tall trees were trying to bend their trunks to avoid being broken or uprooted. The streets were deserted. No one dared to go out in such a dangerous weather.

Except one.

_I'm so tired of being here _

_Suppressed by all my childish fears _

She walked bravely outside, not hearing even one protest from her family. She was soaking wet in a matter of minutes, but she didn't heed anyone's pleads for her to come back. A lightning bolt lit up the sky just ahead of her, and she paused from her step. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest. Then the thunder rolled in and she fought the urge to scream and run back home. She was quivering on her spot, from fear and from the cold.

One of her brothers braved the storm and followed her, carrying an umbrella and a thick blanket of wool.

"Gin, go back with me. Today's not safe. I promise to bring you there tomorrow."

It was Ron, her closest brother, urging her to stop and turn back.

_And if you have to leave _

_I wish that you would just leave _

"I can't. I have to do this. Right now. Or I might never…"

She trailed off, not sure if she even wanted to say the words that were on the tip of her tongue. She closed her eyes and saw his face, and she had to open them quickly before she loses control.

"Mum's already worried," Ron tried again.

She turned to look at him with a weak smile.

"Tell her I'll be back."

And she began walking away.

"At least take this with you," Ron said, defeated, and he pushed the umbrella's handle to her hand and wrapped her shoulders with the blanket, before running back to the rest of their family, watching from their home.

_'Cause your presence still lingers here _

_And it won't leave me alone _

"Oh, Ron…" she said softly, and her eyes welled up at a memory so similar, yet so very different.

Mentally shaking herself, she trudged the muddy slopes to a safe Apparition point and Apparated to a place just behind Hogwarts, a place near the Forbidden Forest.

She clutched the blanket tighter, as she let her eyes roam.

"I feel you," she said softly, as she started to climb the hill. "You're near…" And slowly, her tears started to fall.

She had never been to this place ever since it happened. But her feet, and her heart, seem to know where she is supposed to go. At each step she took, she took in everyone who was there. A friend, an acquaintance, a foe… Yet, those titles didn't matter at the end. When she saw the two that greatly aided their plight, her heart pounded faster as she looked up. Her umbrella slipped from her fingers, the blanket slid down to her feet, and the rain blurred her vision even more.

She moved slowly up the hill, her hair and dress plastered to her face and body, but she didn't care. All that mattered was getting to the top.

When she reached it, her tears flowed faster from her eyes, mixing with the raindrops that were falling hard on her.

_These wounds won't seem to heal _

_This pain is just too real _

_There's just too much that time cannot erase _

Slowly, she fell to her knees and hands, and she looked down to where she is bending over, just as a lightning bolt lit up the dark sky.

"Oh, Harry…" she muttered softly, as she tried to wipe the tears away with the back of her hand. And that same hand reached down and cleared the mud that was beginning to gather and cover the name that was intricately sketched on marble.

_Harry Potter_

_ July 31, 1980 to May 20, 1998_

And the thunder drummed in.

_When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears _

_When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears _

_I held your hand through all of these years _

_But you still have _

_All of me _

Her whole body racked with emotion as she hugged herself. Her tears fell more freely, her cries of anguish and despair released, as she stared at the resting place of the only boy… no… man… she ever really loved. She rocked herself as she tried to ease the pain and hurt that she was feeling.

She still cannot believe that it turned out the way it did. After all this time, she had stayed at home, locked in her room, waiting by the window, for someone she has been told not coming. But she couldn't accept it. She knows he'll return to her. She can feel him. She didn't feel that he had left her alone in this world.

-Flashback-

It was towards the end of her sixth year when the war began. Voldemort's rise brought terror and chaos to Hogwarts castle. One by one, the children of his Deatheaters disappeared, except for Draco Malfoy. All remaining students were puzzled as to why he was still there: Of all the sons of the Deatheaters, why was it Lucius Malfoy's son who stayed behind? Everyone. Except for Harry and Hermione. It all became clear when the time of reckoning came.

Somehow, Voldemort's minions had found a way to infiltrate the castle's magical protection and get into the school grounds. Dumbledore had everyone gathered in the Great Hall and instructed Madame Pince and Filch to oversee the safety of the students while he and the other professors fight. Panic filled everyone's hears as they felt the tremor of the ongoing battle outside. And as everyone tried to reassure one another that everything will be alright, nobody saw Harry quietly leave the Hall. Nor that he was followed later by Draco, then by Hermione. They didn't notice, except for Ginny, Ron, and Blaise Zabini, who followed the three outside. Even the appointed guardians didn't notice that already six students were missing. Until it was too late.

Ginny couldn't believe what she was seeing when she got outside. Harry, Draco, and Hermione had their backs on each other. They were surrounded by hooded shapes. And they were fighting together. Spells were thrown back and forth. She had, out of curiosity and concern, entered a battlefield.

She was watching the scene unfolding before her so intently that she didn't see a cruse sent to their direction.

"Protego!" Two voices shouted that jolted her concentration.

They were Ron's and Zabini's, and their combined shield charm deflected the spell.

"Well," Zabini said, as he pointed his hand forward. "I guess we have to join them," he continued nonchalantly as he glanced at them.

The moment she drew he wand out, he started to move further out of the castle, and Ron followed, with her at their heels. They spread out in a semi-circle, shouting jinxes and curses to various hooded people.

Then they were in the thick of it, and they had to cluster together, their shoulders touching. They were outnumbered, but soon, they were beginning to gain ground, thanks to Zabini's broad knowledge of the Dark Arts and his "easy-to-learn gray" curses.

Amidst all the chaos and the blood trickling from her various wounds, Ginny dimly noted that her entire family was there, and so does the other students' families, and some familiar faces from Hogsmeade.

"Look," Zabini said at one point, his left shoulder nudging her to look at her right.

And there they were, Harry, Hermione, and Draco facing Voldemort, Lucius, and Wormtail. Trying to fight and watch at the same time, she couldn't decipher what the first three were saying but it proved effective in bringing the Dark Lord's most faithful servants down.

Ron pushed her to the side as a red jet of light whizzed pass her, leaving a cut on her cheek.

"Stop looking and concentrate on watching your own back first!" Ron shouted at her angrily before standing up and crying out a counter-curse.

Wiping the blood from her newest wound, she gripped her wand tighter and fought again.

They were winning and there were no more of the Deatheaters on their side of the castle standing. Tired and drained of what they have been doing, they started going to where most of the Light side were when she couldn't help but look at where Harry was. Her eyes opened wide at what she saw.

Harry, Draco, and Hermione had their wands pointed at Voldemort, a bright, rainbow colored light emanating from the tips of their wands, intertwining together to shoot straight towards the Dark Lord, but they were slumping on their knees, their other hands supporting them. A jet of green light shot out of nowhere and headed straight to Hermione, hitting her squarely on the temple.

Ginny turned to her right and shouted, "Stupefy!" as she saw in her peripheral Hermione dropping her wand… and falling to the ground.

"HERMIONE!!!"

The anguished cry made her look back immediately and she saw Harry grip Malfoy's shoulder and they were staring at each other. She saw something glistening trickle down on Malfoy's face before he turned to look back at Voldemort.

With all that was happening around her, Ginny barely felt the tears that slid down from her eyes. She couldn't make herself look away and as she stood rooted to her spot, she just let all her senses alive to let her be aware of any stray curses that might come her way. And as she watched, she couldn't help but think that Harry and Draco were fighting a losing battle. The ray of light that was radiating from their spell had reduced its former brightness, whether from the loss of Hermione, or from the loss of their strength. She saw Voldemort smile as he realized, too, but she also saw that it was taking a lot of effort from him to hold onto his defense.

Harry and Draco were putting all of their concentration, willpower, and effort into the spell that will defeat Voldemort, that they didn't see one of his servants move. Ginny thought that it was just a trick of the light, when Lucius Malfoy stood up suddenly. He shouted the killing curse, directing it to his son, just as she and several others cried out the stunning spell a mere second too late. The impact of the multiple stunners killed the already very weak Lucius Malfoy.

Harry barely even glanced at the lifeless form of Draco on his side. With renewed vigor, he gripped his wand with both of his hands, slowly struggled to stand up, and gave everything… all… that he had left into the spell. Slowly, the light emanating from his wand started pulsating with power, until it glowed radiantly that Ginny had to cover her eyes. When she took her hand off her eyes, she saw that Voldemort had fallen down, barely breathing, and that Harry was looking up into the sky, gasping for breath, and then slowly dropping to the ground.

That snapped her into attention and she ran to where he was. She gently cradled his head to her lap and her tears were falling rapidly down to his face. She swept his hair away from his eyes and she was surprised to find them looking up at her.

"Ginny," he uttered softly.

"Shhh…" she told him, as she gently wiped his face.

"What… are you… doing… out… here?" he asked with difficulty.

"Shhh… Don't speak," she told him again. "I saw you go out. I got curious and I followed. Me, Ron, and Zabini did," she related to him.

He saw the wound on her cheek. "You're hurt."

"I told you to stop talking, Harry," she scolded him. "Don't worry about it. It's only one of the small ones.

"It's only one of the…" he trailed off as he coughed.

"Stop being stubborn, Harry," she said. "Save your strength," as she wiped the sweat off his forehead.

He just smiled ruefully at her.

"I'm… glad that… you're here, Ginny," he told her haltingly, as he took huge gulps of air. "Your will… be the… last face that… I'll see… on… this earth."

She gasped. "Don't talk like that," she asked him. "Please, save your strength."

He just smiled again at her. "I know… I left you hanging… last year… when I just stopped…" he coughed violently.

"Shhh… I know, Harry. I know," she told him gently.

"I just wanted… to protect you…"

She nodded. "Please, Harry. Save your strength." And her tears started falling down more quickly.

"I never stopped loving you, Ginny," he said softly, as he reached up to touch her face. "It was you… who I wanted… to protect… most of all…"

"Harry…" she held his hand to her cheek. "I've always understood."

"All I… really wanted… was to be… with you," he told her in between coughs.

She nodded, as she touched his face.

"I love you, Gin."

"I love you, too, Harry," she told him softly, and he rewarded her with a weak smile.

He was gasping for breath and his eyelids started drooping from weakness.

"I think… I'll rest… for a… bit…" he whispered weakly, as his eyes started to close. "I love you, Ginny," he told her again.

Then the hand on her face lost its hold on her and it slowly fell down.

Her eyes went wide as she saw that his chest stopped heaving up and down.

"Harry…?" she called out to him. "HARRY!!!" she cried out.

And then everything went black.

-End of Flashback-

"I didn't believe them when they told me, Harry," she said softly to his grave, her hand touching the cool stone. "I just somehow know that you'd be coming home to me."

_You used to captivate me _

_By your resonating light _

"I always had that fierce crush on you," she said with a weak smile. "Remember?"

_"Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, oh please…"_

She grinned wobbly at the memory. "And I was only 10!"

_"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,_

_ His hair is as dark as a black board._

_ I wish he was mine, he's really diving,_

_ The hero who conquered the Dark Lord."_

"A toad! Who would want to be compared to a toad!" she laughed half-heartedly, her tears still streaming down to her face.

"Then I sent you that singing get-well card in your third year," she continued, as she wiped her cheeks. "Then I was so worried when you joined the Tri-Wizard Tournament. All I wanted to do was to hug you when you got out of the maze…"

She paused, taking a huge shuddering breath, the cold air and the rain beating on her back was becoming too much on her body that has not seen the outside world for months.

_"Well, that was a bit stupid of you," said Ginny angrily, "seeing as you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels."_

"You have always been a bit stupid, you know," she said, as she wiped the stone clear of mud again. "You never thought of asking for help. You always had to do it your own way first…"

_Harry had his hands on Ginny's cheeks, a tender smile playing on his lips._

_ "Are you sure you'll have me, Ginny?" he asked her softly._

_ She smiled at him. "I'm sure."_

_ And he bent down to kiss her softly on the lips._

"It was the night before our first Quidditch match against the Slytherins in your sixth year," she recalled as she sniffed, "when you finally gave your heart to me."

_Now I'm bound by the life you left behind _

_Your face it haunts _

_My once pleasant dreams _

"But even before the year ended, you just… stopped," she continued, her tears falling down rapidly again just as the rain washed it away once more.

"When you started saying 'I'm busy, Ginny', I just knew," she told him. "I never questioned your actions. Somehow, I knew that you were distancing yourself to protect me. And I didn't insist. Even when I always felt your eyes on me, I resisted the urge to go run to you and hug you," she said, briefly closing her yes, her hand to her mouth.

"Then the war came… And when I woke up, they told me you were… dead," she said, her eyes widening as she said the word, as if she couldn't believe she was finally saying it. "Dead! When I can still feel your presence… That you were just somewhere out there, and that you're just being held up for defeating Voldemort that you couldn't come immediately to The Burrow… When all my dreams were filled with you arriving at our door…"

She paused, letting the lightning and thunder pass.

"But you never came… You never did come," she continued, her tears flowing down with the rain on the smooth stone. "After all the waiting… I had to come here… to be able to see for myself… And you're here…" She bowed her head lower, her hand covering her mouth again, her body shivering with the cold and with her sobs.

_You voice it chased away _

_All the sanity in me _

She took a huge breath before speaking again.

"It was you who was waiting for me to come…"

A wind so gentle, so warm, suddenly enveloped her, making her close her eyes and smile, "Oh, Harry…" she whispered, before it was blown away by the cold air and the hard rain.

_These wounds won't seem to heal _

_This pain is just too real _

_There's just too much that time cannot erase _

And then she had come to a decision. She reached down, pulled her skirt up, and pulled out a dagger from a belt strapped on her thigh. She placed it carefully on top of the marble stone and she tried to smooth her hair away from her face.

"I'll be with you soon, love," she muttered softly, as she took hold of the dagger.

Then, there was lightning and thunder.

And another.

And another.

_I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone _

_But though you're still with me _

_I've been alone all along _

The kitchen door opened and Mrs. Weasley leapt from her seat and rushed to her daughter's side, her eyes tearing up when she saw Ginny return home safely, though dripping wet.

"Don't cry, Mum," Ginny told her. "Everything's all right," she said as she looked at her four remaining brothers: Bill, Charlie, George, and Ron. Their father, Percy, and Fred all died in the war.

Her mother hugged her and she saw the relieved smiles of her brothers. When she was released, she smiled weakly at her mum.

"I'm fine, Mum. I'm fine," she told everybody in the kitchen. She glanced up at the magical clock to where everybody's backs were, and they all did the same.

Ginny's hand in the clock was spinning uncontrollably. It went round and round and again for quite some time until it stopped, and hovered as if uncertainly, at 'Home'. They all looked back to where she was standing.

But she was gone.

_When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears _

_When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears _

_I held you hand through all of these years _

_But you still have _

_All of me _

The rain has stopped and the wind gentled its blow. The dark clouds parted to reveal a clear mid-day sky. The sun shone brightly, its rays of light casting a warm glow over at Phoenix Hill.

Ginny Weasley's body lay over the grave of Harry Potter. Her red hair spilled over the epitaph, her head pillowed on one of her arms, while her other hand held loosely the dagger on her chest.

There was no trace of blood around her. Except the trail from the fatal wound, going to her side, then to the ground, as seen from the muddied white of her dress. It was as if her blood seeped directly to the soil, and that the earth welcomed it, absorbing it fully, and the rain washed the remnants away.

As the sun rose fully into the sky, the Weasley family has arrived to where she was.

_Everything's all right._

Molly fell down on her knees, her tears falling down her cheek, as she gently swept Ginny's red hair from her face. And to everybody's surprise, she was lying there peacefully… with a contented smile on her face.

_I'm fine, Mum. I'm fine._

_

* * *

_

_Last Notes:_ When Ginny said that nobody would have wanted to be compared to a toad, I was having some sort of flashback from my own life… lolz By the way, this is some sort of a sequel to a fic that I'm still finding hard to "immortalize" through words…

And please, don't forget to leave me a review. Thanks for reading!


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